Banned Books Week 2011

Banned Books Week 2011

Banned Books Week (Sept 24 - Oct 1, 2011)

During Banned Books Week, Amnesty International directs attention to the plight of individuals who are persecuted because of the writings that they produce, circulate or read. Traditionally, Banned Books Week activities take place at the end of each September -- but the featured cases are not confined to a week. They continue to need your action.

Uighur poet & story writer Nurmemet Yasin is serving a 10-year prison sentence for writing an allegorical short story that the authorities consider to be a veiled indictment of their rule in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR). He is a prisoner of conscience.

Isa Saharkhiz, a prominent reformist commentator & journalist, was arrested in 2009 after posting an article on a website criticizing the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Sayed ’Ali Khamenei. His health has deteriorated alarmingly during his two years as a prisoner of conscience, and his period of incarceration is being lengthened.

Apparently in part because of her books exposing a child pornography ring and trafficking of women & girls, journalist and human rights defender Lydia Cacho has received new death threats in the summer of 2011 and has had to leave her home.

Abuzar Al Amin, deputy editor-in-chief of Rai Al Shaab newspaper, was arrested in May 2010 after publishing an analysis of the results of the April 2010 elections and an article suggesting that an Iranian weapons factory had been built in Sudan. Amnesty International considers him to be a prisoner of conscience.

Since the 1970s, Father Nguyen Van Ly, now 64, has spent almost two decades in prison -- in harsh conditions and often in solitary confinement -- for calling on Vietnamese authorities to respect freedom of expression and other human rights. Amnesty International considers him to be a prisoner of conscience.

It's your body, know your rights! Check out our global campaign to help ensure that everyone has access to their sexual and reproductive rights and to stop criminalization of sexuality and reproduction by governments.